This invention relates to the field of transporting and rectifying of similar objects, especially pharmaceutical capsules. The invention comprises a method and apparatus for transporting the objects, and reorienting the objects such that they all point in substantially the same direction relative to their direction of motion, so that indicia can be printed on the objects.
There have been many efforts to solve the problem of the handling and printing of pharmaceutical capsules in the prior art. Reference is made to three applications filed by the present inventor, all co-pending with this application, which deal with the same general field. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 954,243, filed Oct. 24, 1978 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,477 discloses a two-drum apparatus. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 065,337, filed Aug. 9, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,478 discloses a three-drum capsule handling apparatus. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 089,190, filed Oct. 29, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,942 discloses a single-drum capsule handling apparatus. All three applications referred to above are hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
Prior workers in the art have developed apparatus capable of transporting, orienting, recitfying and in other appropriate ways positioning, etc. capsules such as are disclosed in the following U.S. patents, which may be considered representative of the prior art:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,785,786, R. J. Bartlett, CONVEYING APPARATUS PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,689, A. Ackley, PELLET MARKING MACHINE PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,931,292, C. E. Ackely, MARKING MACHINE PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,234, C. E. Ackley and John Kane, METHOD OF PRINTING WAXED PELLETS, AND PRINTING INK PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,792, J. J. Miskel et al, APPARATUS FOR BRANDING UNIFORMLY SHAPED ARTICLES PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,042,183, C. E. Ackley, ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,200,556, C. E. Ackley, CAPSULE SEALING METHOD AND APPARATUS PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,272,118, C. E. Ackley, ARTICLE MARKING MACHINE PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,861, Alten E. Whitecar, CAPSULE ORIENTING MACHINE PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,909, Garland et al, CAPSULE HANDLING APPARATUS AND METHOD PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,766, Wagers, Jr. et al, CAPSULE INSPECTION APPARATUS AND METHOD PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,900, Edward M. Ackley, CAPSULE PRECISION PRINTING APPARATUS AND METHOD PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,295, Edward M. Ackley, CAPSULE ORIENTING APPARATUSAND METHOD OF SPIN PRINTING PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,143, Edward M. Ackely, CONVEYOR LINK FOR TABLET PRINTING APPARATUS PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,120, Hoppmann et al, CENTRIFUGAL METHOD OF SORTING AND ORIENTING PARTICULATE ARTICLES PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,055, VandenBerg et al, CAPSULE RECTIFICATION APPARATUS PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,884, Edward M. Ackley, APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING AND ORIENTING CAPSULES PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,753, Edward M. Ackley, deceased, APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR THE RANDOM SPIN PRINTING OF CAPSULES
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,931,884 and 4,069,753 show "spin printing" apparatus, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,785,786, 2,859,689, 3,026,792 and 3,424,082, show other apparatus and method for branding or printing indicia on the article.
All of the inventions described in the above-cited applications of the present inventor, as well as many of the prior art references cited deal with the basic problem of processing large numbers of similar objects, such as pharmaceutical capsules. It is necessary to print desired marking on the capsules. In order to do the printing, one must be sure that all the capsules are delivered to a printing apparatus, in the proper position. Since pharmaceutical capsules often have a body portion and a cap portion, it becomes necessary to print indicia on the capsules in the same relative position on all of the capsules.
Therefore, it is not enough merely to bring a capsule in close contact with a printing apparatus; it is also necessary to orient the capsule in the proper position relative to the printing means, so that the indicia will be printed on the capsule in the desired direction.
The process of orienting all capsules so that their body portions and cap portions point in substantially the same direction is known as "rectifying". Throughout this application, the use of the term "rectification" refers to the orientation of capsules such that corresponding parts of the capsules all point in the same direction.
In practice, it is necessary to transport, orient, and print many thousands of pharmaceutical capsules in a relatively short time. It is therefore necessary to use very high speed machinery, comprising rapidly rotating drums, as taught in the applications cited above, and it is thus necessary to effect rapid changes in the position of the capsules in order to accomplish the ultimate goals of the apparatus. When capsules are shifted from one position to another, the shifting must be accomplished in a relatively short time. The present invention discloses a new and useful improvement in the handling of such objects. As will be more fully explained below, the present invention takes advantage of both active means and passive means (such as gravity) for the rectification and the rapid and accurate handling of objects such as pharmaceutical capsules.
As will be more clearly apparent from the detailed description below, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems in the handling of pharmaceutical capsules in a manner which is quite different from that shown in the prior art. The invention described herein is a rectifying apparatus and method, which relies in part on the action of gravity to accomplish the rectification. In contrast, a device such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,295 to Ackley does rectify the capsules, but requires two separate air jets to accomplish the reorientation tasks. Also, the two separate air jet means are not identical, but instead are disposed so as to turn the capsules in different directions. The first air jet means 25 turns the capsules from a radial to a longitudinal position. The second air jet means 26 turns the capsules from a longitudinal to a transverse orientation. The present invention eliminates the need for use of two separate and distinct air jet means for this purpose.
Another device equipped to handle pharmaceutical capsules is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,884 to Ackley. However, the invention disclosed in the latter patent does not rectify capsules at all, as stated in the introductory paragraph of the patent. Thus, although only one air jet means 26 is shown in the latter patent, it is also true that the capsules are disposed at random, and are not rectified before spin printing. The same comments apply to U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,753 to Ackley.
Still another example of a capsule orienting and turning apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,966 to Ackley et al. The capsules in the latter patent are rectified, but again, the rectification is accomplished by two separate air jet means disposed along the periphery of the drum.
Still another example of capsule handling machinery is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,226 to Ackley, which shows a device which does not rectify capsules, similar to those noted above. A single air jet means 26 is disposed along the capsule drum, and capsules are delivered to the spin printing station without regard to the orientation of their body portions and cap portions.
In contrast to the prior art noted above, the apparatus and method disclosed in the present application involves rectification of capsules wherein gravity is used to assist in the rectification. Capsules may then be delivered to a spin printer with all of the body portions and cap portions of the capsules pointing in the same direction.